Blog Redemption :)

Okay, you win. After all the posts and comments telling me to post, here it is. Peter, now it's your turn. Anyway, I am sorry I haven’t posted sooner. Or more often. It’s not entirely my fault…our computer wouldn’t let me post pictures, but I finally got it working. The rest of it is my fault. “April and Michelle” just isn’t quite the same without April… Well, now I’m out of excuses, so here it is: the one you've all been waiting for!

So, graduation isn’t exactly a recent event anymore, but it was a really big milestone in my life. In honor of that fact, I decided to kind of make this a recap of the last year of my experience as a high school student! (I’ll do a separate one for Graduation.) And sorry that the pictures aren't in order....for some weird reason, they didn't post in the order I had them in...but you'll just have to live with it, because I'm not going to start over:)

Seminary Graduation

Yep, I warned you they were out of order! haha I guess we'll just start here anyway. I'll post in more details on the actual high school graduation, but this picture is from seminary graduation. I don't remember how they do it in America, but we had a really nice program with our stake a week before graduation. I think I was the luckiest one---I even got a picture with our wonderful mission president and his wife!

Seminary Graduation Dance
After the program, there was a really fun dance. This is a picture of Leina, Latai, and me, after we'd been decked out! In the middle of the dance, all the graduates were invited to come stand in the middle of the tennis court so that people could come give us leis. If you think Halloween is cool, you should've seen how much candy I got from this!

Form 6 Picnic
The Class of 2008 sang three songs at graduation ("These Are The Days", "Graduation Day", and "O Home Beloved"). We practiced every day after school, and the Friday before graduation they announced that we'd have a picnic after practice. So, after a shortened school day and practice, we all headed to the very back of the rugby field, where we had a fun time just enjoying the food and playing together one more time...

Form 6 Ball
Or senior prom, or whatever you want to call it. They didn't want it to conflict with studying for exams, so they moved it to third term. Kinda crazy, but it was still really fun. My mom sewed the dress; even without the box of patterns she left in America! (isn't she amazing?!) I went with Manase Taumoepeau, and we had a ton of fun...or at least I did :)

Coronation of King George V
There were a lot of activities in town to celebrate the coronation, and marching was one of them. All the schools marched around town and past the palace. (That's our principal, Sione Tafuna, and the student body officers.) Most of the other activities took place at night so we didn’t get very good pictures, but they were a lot of fun. They even had a pretty cool show of fireworks down on the wharf. (For the record, fireworks are way cooler when they're also being reflected in the ocean.)

‘Atele Social
‘Atele is the all-boys government school on the island. As part of their graduation celebrations, they had a dance and invited about 30 girls from each of the other high schools. It was fun, but I have to admit that I like Liahona boys a lot more! :)

Marching for Parliament

Recognize the one on the left? Yep, that's April! Even though she's back in the states now, she was still here and got to march with us for the opening of parliament. The one in the middle is Erica McKee, President Eric Shumway's granddaughter who was here for a few months. And for those of you who are still confused...I'm the one on the right.

Speech Competition

(Leina, Me, Lute, and my teacher, 'Ilisapesi)

My friend Lute and I participated in a speech competition to represent Liahona. I won first place and received a $200 cash prize, as well as a cell phone, (cool, yeah?) and Lute placed fourth. (It was also really neat to find out later through Dad, who met one of the judges, that I didn’t win just because I’m a palangi. In fact, they decided at the beginning that they were NOT going to let me win, but I guess my charm won them over in the end :)

Sports

The track and field events are referred to generally as "sports". There are two days of sports at Liahona for inter-house competitions, and 3 days for inter-college competitions. It gets pretty hot and muggy being in the sun for 10 hours a day, but it's lots of fun to watch and cheer on the school. Unfortunately, Liahona broke its winning streak of 3 years....*sigh.* Oh well, we had to give the other schools a chance, right? And don't worry---we'll be back in full force next year!!

Back-to-School Dance

This picture was supposed to be at the beginning....and now it's at the end! It was the first dance of the year, welcoming everyone back to the world of studying, uniforms, and of course—school dances! Now it's behind me, but it's okay, because I'll stay green & white forever! Liahona 4 Life!!!

We would like a little more from Michelle!

Dear friends,

We all know that this blog has crashed since April left. Well, if this post gets over 15 comments in support of getting Michelle to post I will get her to post more often. I have continued my blog, but it is still whacking out. So, you have two days!!!!!!

CD

Whoa. Someone Really Needs to Post.

It's been a long time since anyone's posted here. Its seems to me like there's a shortage of pictures. Well, the story doesn't end here, folks. On Friday Dad, Danny and I took a two day vacation to 'Eua. I think it wins the prize for being the best vacation I've ever gone on, even though I didn't get my two talks done that I had to give today in two different Sacrament meetings. But we saw the biggest tree in the world, a beautiful rock garden and many humongous cliffs. Dad gave a beautiful mission conference for the 6 elders there totally on the spot, and he and Danny got to sit in the co-pilot's seat on the 10 seater plane (yes, it's smaller than the McBus) one way each. On Saturday we climbed--literally--down these cliffs to a gorgeous beach completely non-accessible to cars, and the hike happens to be rated the number one tourist hike in the Pacific. It was entirely fakalata. (For those of you who don't pay attention to the weekly word, it's really really cun/cool.) Dad doesn't miss a beat, either, and was able to give three short first-lessons on the spot. It was great. The tragic news, is that during one of the mini lessons, just as he was getting to the Book of Mormon, we looked up and noticed a beautiful sky show and took a break to take a picture. Sadly, at the moment of action, the camera slipped from his fingerest, and through the whole in the board walk and down to the rocks below. I heroically climbed down and rescued it, but we'll be lucky if it works again. I'm hoping the card will at least work so we can get a few pictures. It happened on Friday night, so we didn't get anything of the cliff hike, but if we can get just a few pictures, we'll definitely have to post them so you can see the beauty of 'Eua.

Oh, and just as a public announcement for those who are unaware...I will be on American Sod on the fifth of August, probably in the evening. Then the parties will begin.

The Urge.

Wow. I meant to post these forever ago....meaning back at the beginning of December when we took our family trip to Vava'u. But I lost the pictures and I just found them again! I think they are so funny! They're the signs on the bathrooms at the domestic airport. Sorry the quality isn't the best, but I think they're much more descriptive than most pictures. When is the rest of the world going to catch the creativity?

Late But Great!

I actually took this picture on our first day here in Tonga, so that was quite some time ago, but the Temple never gets old. Furthermore, I just think you're a lucky person if you can take a picture like this from your backyard!!!

Ha'afeva Comes to Life!

Well, I guess you probably wanted to see Ha'afeva, and not just hear about it. Unfortunately, I had dead batteries for about 7 or the twelve weeks, and there are also some pictures my companion got, as well as Mom and Dad. I'll work on getting those eventually. Anyway, there aren't a lot of scenic-type pictures, and they're not that great, either. But they mean a lot to me (probably because most of them are of the kids), so hopefully you'll enjoy!

This is Sister 'Aholelei and me sitting on the beach doing some studying.

Sorry, too we're too lazy to stand up. But his beautiful tapa cloth covers one wall of our house. The perfect backdrop, wouldn't you say?

Our District. That was our first conference, just two weeks after I arrived.

We went to Mele and Manu's bush to help out! But we mostly ended up playing marbles.

Wouldn't you just love to have something like this growing in your backyard?

Me, Vili, Kali, Siu and Mote playing marbles. They were good teachers.

This isn't the best angle, but these three girls win the points for being most afraid of me at first but loving me by the end. I didn't actually get to see them the whole second transfer because they went down to Tongatapu.

Maikale was the first person from Ha'afeva I met. Here she is, teaching me how to weave.

This is my first time to officially eat 'Ota ika--off the bones. 'Aho loves 'ota. She could eat eight or nine in a sitting.

Here she is, eating 'ota again. The best way to salt your fish is to just rinse them off in the sea water.

Nai, 'Aho and Mona eating fingota, another delicious raw something from the sea.

'Aholelei, me, Mona, and Nai again.

This is tuku misi. Sorry, the smoke makes it a little hazy, but whatever. That is a big pile of tuku misi. Paane is a little nine year old who is already proficient with a knife and preparing tuku misi. An interesting fact: He is indeed wearing an Olympus Titans football hat.

Sione Lose was lying on the ground one day, and this pig just came up to him and laid down next to him. I guess not all pigs are scared of humans.

Pita and Sione Maile making lolo tonga (natural oil, Tongan style). Sione Maile is squeezing the oil out of grated coconut, then they use the dry coconut for something. I didn't really undertand the whole process.

Sports (or track and field) is huge in Tonga. So to celebrate it, the Primary school had their own Sports Day, full of relays and fun games. It reminded me a lot of good 'ole field days back at Upland.

Tatafu and Kasanita

Me and Nifai. He's the Branch President's little boy who stayed next to our house. He's easily one of the cutest boys I have ever met. ;)

Tatafu and Mele

'Olivia and Filisi. Filisi can be attributed for giving me my first Tongan lesson, which included identifying things and spelling their names. Just more proof that kids are smarter than adults.

Mona and Vili in back, then Vanika, 'Olivia, Filisi, Kali, 'Isisleli and Sofilisi.

This was the trip to Nomuka in the new mission boats to switch elders before transfers. The two other sisters are the ones who replaced me and Tatafu.

Me and Tatafu in front of 'O'ua. We went to pick up one of the elder's luggage, but we stayed on the front of the boat while they went to shore.

On our last morning, these kids came to deliver a beautiful turtle shell to me. Isn't that nice? I gave them balloons.

Our last night in Ha'afeva, we held our last Mutual activity, and we were joined by some younger kids, too. We played get-to-know-you games.
These are our actual Young Women: Nofo, Manatu and Peti. I'll certainly never forget Ha'afeva.

I Came in at the Beginning of Guava Season, and Left at the End of Orange Season.

Every missionary eats really cool things that usually sound pretty gross to the rest of the world. So here goes, again, in no particular order, and I'm not going to mention things that I'd already eaten in Tonga. Oh, and if you get queasy easily, I suggest you not read the details.
1. Moko Hunu. I'll start with the one thing I didn't like. It was ok the first time I ate it, but by the second time I ate it, I had to stop of fear of losing it all. I looked it up in my dictionary. I'll save you the meaning. Unless I get lots of requests to know what it was.
2. 'Ota. Fresh fish. I really liked fresh fish in Tonga, but I had only had it in salads and such...yummy flavors....In Ha'afeva I not only learned to eat, but love eating fish straight out of the water, straight off the bones.
3. Fish heads, raw or cooked, doesn't matter. I'd say that eating it raw it's almost not worth the effort because the head is so hard break open, but cooked it's really good, especially the lungs.
4. Fingota. I think it's.....ok, I'm not really sure what it is, but it's another raw thing, and it's really good. I didn't get to eat it that much though.
5. Tuku Misi. (Dear family members: Dad doesn't even want to try it....I'm one up!) The biggest it gets is about the size of a really small coconut, and it's blue and has white spiky thingies. Then you open it, and pour most of the goopy, yucky looking stuff, and scoop out about 4 small spoonfuls of orange, goopy, yucky looking stuff. But it's actually really good, as long as it's eaten with 'ufi (tuber plant, some sort of boiled tubers are eaten at almost every meal). I'm not sure I could do it without. It's also really salty.
6. Tuna. And you thought it only came in a can! Ok, it's really good, but it's really fatty. Probably 1:1 ratio. I can handle a little of it, but not that much! The meat is really good though. :)
7. 'Anga. Shark. This might be the yummiest thing I have ever eaten! It was so tender, and cooked in cury, and maybe because it was my birthday or something, but it was soooo good!
8. I ate all kinds of fish, but the two others I will mention are Pone, and 'Ume. 'Ume is the best fish, and it really is soooo good. Both are good cooked or 'ota (I believe the only fish that can be 'ota), although I prefer Pone for 'ota.
9. Sadly, I never ate jelly fish or sea turtle. I've heard turtle is really good, and as for jelly fish, I only wanted to eat it for the sake of trying it. (I've also had octapus, which is really good, but strangely, I never had it in Ha'afeva.) And then I ate lobster and crab often enough, not worth reporting more.
Ok, now for land animals!!! (or in some cases, sky...)
10. Lupe. Dove. Yummy. Delicious. Ifo.
11. Peka. BAT!!!
12. Kulii. Dog. Ok, everyone, I'm really sorry, but it's really yummy!
13. Kosi. Goat. It tastes quite similar to lamb, but really good.
14. Keke Faka-Tonga. Tongan pancake/cake. I'ts like flour and water and fried....if you like deliciously greesy foods, it's totally for you.
15. La'ipele. It's the leaves from the manioke/tapiocca (spelling?) plant, and I like it more than Lu, which is the leaves from the Taro plant. (Both plants are tubers) The Tongans just eat it with some kind of meat, and I really like it.
16. Also, as the title says, I ate a lot of guava and a lot of orange. Both are so delicious, and I'd never had guava before. I highly recommend them to those who get the chance to eat them. I almost love them more than papaya, but not quite. (That's my favorite thing here.) And Ha'afeve banana's are even sweeter than Tongatapu bananas! But that's how long I was there for, two fruit seasons!!
17. This one isn't about what I ate, but how I ate. I rarely used a fork or spoon, and today at lunch I think the ravioli we ate would have been much easier to eat with my hands than with a fork. I am very pro at that now.
I think that's about it. Really, I just know that I am a Tongan, and I was just born in America. And now I'm back to a city of cars and lights and roads and American food and it's all very crazy. Happy birthday Danny. (Hopefully we'll do a post later on that...)

Boy Scout camp????

Dad said to me once, "You kind of have to have some boy scout in you to live in Ha'afeva." So I guess it proves to you all that I would have made a fantastic boy scout. Here are some pretty cool things about my mission. (Ok, yes, some are sarcastic, but to be honest, I really enjoyed every experience, even if sometimes it was purely for a new found claim to fame.Oh, and ps, they're not in any order, just as they come to mind)
1. Learning to do laundry by hand, and hoping that P day is sunny so it will all dry in time
2. Eating really awesome food! The Tongans have got this thing down! (I'll go into more details in another blog...)
3. Turning 18!!! (And officially feeling like I had the right to teach the YW I had been teaching)
3. Seeing my family on my birthday (Go Zone Conferences!)
4. Eating SHARK on my BIRTHDAY!!!
5. Wearing a black tupenu and a long sleeve dress every day
6. Braiding my hair everyday
7. Hanging out with the missionaries
8. Of course, learning Tongan. I've really, really improved.
9. Having a camera and now batteries for about 7 or the 12 weeks. (Yeah, if you couldn't tell, that was a major bummer)
10. Living next door to the most adorable two year old, and teaching him songs, some Tongan, and some English.
11. Walking around the entire island one P day
12. Falling in love with the dog that lived at the church--not my dog officially, but he comes to me before anyone else!
13. The Children--That would be my number one without question. Ha'afeva should go down in history for cranking out the most beautiful and sweetest children on earth. (And if you ever have like two hours I'd be happy to go into more detail about all that)
14. Writing my letters to the mission president and my dad on the same sheet of paper (aka, it's cool to have your mission pres. be your dad)
15. Having electricity only after 7:00 ( it changed to 6:30 after it started getting darker earlier) and only until 12 or 2 in the morning
16. Taking cold showers (Believe it or not, this actually was a blessing because it's really, really hot!!)
17. Being able to see the ocean from the church (our house was in back, so the church blocked our view)
18. Teaching the YW, 2 recent converts and 2 less active
19. Seeing billions of stars at night
20. Receiving compliments like, "You're already Tongan", and "Will you marry to Ha'afeva?" (Lets face it, they love me........jk)
21. Having two awesome comps.
22. growing TONS spiritually
23. learning how to teach the missionary lessons, and other missionary tricks that now give me a head start to my next mission
24. Learning what makes a missionary a good missionary
25. Riding the boat for 8ish hours up and back
26. Often walking in te'epuaka(pig dung) and bubble gum--seems to be my lot in life
27. Being able to chat with every citizen (?) in one day and still have time left over
28. Having 3 cars and one tractor, which probably makes it an even 3:1 ratio of goats to cars
29. Getting fed all the time
30. Having one main road. (The rest were small roads weaving in and out between each man's bush and the wharf)
40. Going to the bush and getting oranges, sugar cane and such
41. Learning to play marbles really well (Those kids have major skills...)
42. Drinking rain water
43. Sitting cross legged all the time
44. And of course, I'm running out of ideas and you're probably running out of interest.
45. If you want to know more, please email me at : epe.lhs07 at gmail. That's where the good stuff is.
46. Yep, I think that's it
47. Sisita Makamaile :)
47. 'Ofa lahi atu!

Honey, I'm HOME!!!

Hey everybody, I hope you all figured out that I chose to extend my mission another transfer, so now after spending three months in Ha'afeva Heaven, here I am!!! I'm going to do some fun blogs about it, but I think for now I'll just skip out on the really spiritual stuff.....so that maybe some of you will hopefully feel more inclined to email me!:) (And about that, I am now trying to sift through all my emails, so I'll try and get you all relatively quickly) But I'm home, and it didn't take long for me to already feel homesick for Ha'afeva, but I suppose all you post missionaries out there know what that's like. Anyway, Happy Birthday Danny, and anyone else I missed out on from the past three months! :)

An Annoucement

My dear friends! I am pleased to announce that I have unofficially been called to serve as the FIRST EVER palangi sister in Tonga! I will be leaving in a week, and I will not be able to keep in touch with many of you, if any of you! ("I know, teeth, Keith!") Anyway, I am VERY excited, and I wanted to write you all and tell you this personally, but this will have to do since I am running out of time! I will email you when I get home, and probably do a blog post or something. I'll be gone at least six weeks, but I may do two transfers, so it might be longer. Who knows? Until then, hopefully Michelle and Danny will keep the blog going. I know this church is true, and I am so excited to go out and serve the Tongans, because I love them so much! 'Ofa lahi atu!

The Legend of the Bat

Why do bats sleep in the day? Why do they fly at night? Why do they hang upside down? Scientists claim that bats are nocturnal, but Tongans know the real answer. Bats are a big part of Tonga. They're called flying foxes, and there's a place where they hang out (literally, hang out) that's not too far from our house. So here's the legend of the Bat, as told to us by Elder Oseni (Olsen), Dad's AP:

There was a great white bat, who was the leader of all the bats. For some reason, he would get really sick at night when the Sun went down. Each morning when the Sun came back, he'd get better.
One night, he was especially sick, and he told his servants to go and find the sun. The bats flew to the Sun and begged him to come up so their king would live. The Sun refused, telling the bats that he answered to no one. The bats flew back to their king, to tell him what the Sun said. To their dismay, the king had died. The Sun hadn't come up in time to save him.
The bats were furious at the Sun. Because of him, their beloved king had died. To show their hate towards the Sun, they began to hang upside down during the day, so the Sun would only see their backsides. From then on, they also used their wings to cover their faces, and only fly at night, so they don't ever have to look at the Sun during the day.
So there's the legend of the bats. I thought it was really interesting. Danny also said that whenever a white bat is spotted, the chief of the village where it was first spotted will die when the bat dies. Obviously, since white bats are very rare, that hasn't happened very often, but it happened once.